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Rupert Rudolius
Rupert Rudolius was a Legunar general, who famously overthrew the Legunar Republic in the 480s. Although Rudolius militarized his state and wielded political authoritarianism, he sought to rule with a gentle hand, and so is remembered more fondly than his successors. Early life Rupert was born in 449 DR to a military family, and as such, he was trained in military arts from a young age. He took to them readily, and in his adolescence in the 460s he qualified for a scholarship at the prominent Soldiers' Academy of Garavactus. In the mostly-Ambliar city of Garavactus, Rupert - an ethnic Heurenar - began to come into conflict with many of his superiors, who held the Heurenar population in disdain. For a while Rupert sought to dissuade their jeers by performing well in his military capacity, but this mostly proved ineffective at combating negative opinions of him. Revolution In the 470s, Rupert began to associate with more radical Heurenar groups, and adopted the opinion that the predominantly Ambliar government of Leguna was trying to repress the Heurenars. Rupert was a lieutenant at this time, and because of his resulting inroads with government officials, became a beloved figure among militant Heurenar groups. Rupert began, in 481, to make a comprehensive plan for the overthrow of the Legunar republic; he and co-conspirator Terrence Harlick executed this plan in the spring of 482, spreading a false report of treason and inspiring the Legunar public to fight for the deposition of President Janus Sargum. Although the parliament was originally reticent to accept the group's findings as legitimate, Rudolius used a series of forged documents and extracted confessions in order to build a substantial mythos about Sargum's absolutist ambitions. In 484, the parliament voted to depose Sargum, and Rudolius succeeded him. Reign One of Rudolius' first acts was to strip the parliament of its powers "until Leguna can guarantee the defeat of Sargum's duplicitous cause." Likewise, his first years of rule were marked by a hunt for the Sargumites, and the eliminating of a controlled number of them. After Sargum's capture and execution in 487, Rudolius declared that the new government would bring in a golden age of Legunar power; that same year, he requested to join the Golden Quintet, and so Leguna became the sixth member of the organization. Now that Leguna was cooperating with its former trade competitor, its income began to increase substantially, and in his efforts to bring about equality among Legunars, Rudolius managed to increase the general quality of life for commoners. Many of the aristocrats resented Rudolius' equalizing efforts, but Rudolius usually pacified them with the granting of parliamentary posts, which had been rendered nigh-decorative by Rudolius' continuing stranglehold on the government. In 502, Terrence Harlick was assassinated by pro-Sargum rebels. Rudolius made it a point of pride to not react to the assassination by cracking down on the common populace at all, but out of caution he decided to draft a lengthy line of succession of the various generals in the Legunar military. This led to a degree of infighting among some of the generals, who wanted to advance their various positions, but Rudolius was rarely swayed by overt attempts to impress him. However, a few generals - Luther Grouss among them - managed to talk their way into advancing beyond their original position. Rudolius' health began to decline in the last decade of his life, and in 518 he started appearing in public in a litter. He began to drink heavily as well, and in 525, he died of a combination of illnesses. Luther Grouss, the highest surviving general on the line of succession, then took up the mantle of General Regnant. Personal life Rudolius married Lucia Thurkess, a prolific writer and poet, in 485. Associates of both parties said that the pair were close, and were both fond of long intellectual discussions. Lucia was appointed to the post of State Poet of Leguna in 490, and she wrote a number of patriotic ballads glorifying both Rudolius and the Legunar state itself. Rudolius and Lucia had two children, Rufus and Eugene, both of whom were raised to be soldiers from an early age. As such, the children were often away at boarding schools, and had little connection to their parents. In 517, Lucia died of what is today thought to be cancer; Rudolius gave her a lavish state funeral, and the two would eventually be buried side-by-side in the Kalian State Cemetery. Category:Legunars Category:Military Leaders